Canada has never enough idea and big dreams. We have repeatedly invented what the world thought impossible.
For example, we built a railway that unites the country together and now connects the continent. The Candu reactor program has been exported all over the world and is still working today. Canadarm helped to do work in space safer and more efficiently. Insulin, pacemaker, IMAX, snowmobile … We changed how humanity works, plays, survives and explores.
Now the question is whether we still believe.
Recently, we hungry for ambitions, thwarted innovations and took away entrepreneurship. We discussed the projects to death, acted as if, as if building great things recklessly and was contracting through the labyrinths of nymphism, political correctness, bureaucracy and the red ribbon. What happened to the country that was strong, stable and fearless?
To flourish now and next century, we need more than regulatory changes. We need projects that have national significance that move
(GDP), diversify the economy, maximize our current advantages and unite the nation.
This means that modern trading corridors bring our goods to the market. This means resource strategies for agriculture, energy and
This means confidence in regulatory processes that will give investors confidence in considering Canada as a place of opportunities, and not as a place for high risk for their money.
Western Canada has obvious opportunities: agriculture that feeds the world, energy systems that can provide both security and transition, and minerals necessary for batteries and technologies of tomorrow. But let's not take them for regional projects. They fuel prosperity from the coast to the coast.
Be it
Mine in North Saskachevan or British Colombia,
The pipeline in Albert or the All -West Road in the Arctic, everything helps to support the Canadian economy and increase GDP. They also attract foreign investment dollars.
These are not local priorities; These are Canadian imperatives.
The north is also often considered remote, too expensive or too complicated. Nevertheless, this is central in the future of Canada, for sovereignty, to include the northern communities and long -term growth.
Thanks to an increase in international attention to the north -west passage as a water path and an appeal to its unused resource potential, the continuation of the marginalization of the region threatens our requirements to the north, as well as national security. Investments in ports, roads, energy and broadband communication are not mandatory; This price of serious dates back to the 21st century.
A century ago, the railway sewed Canada together from the east to the west. Today, the connection of the North can be the equivalent of our generation: a project that provides both prosperity and sovereignty for the future.
Canada does not fail from the absence of priorities; This fails from the lack of national vision. The office of large projects has its place, but no regulatory design can replace clarity of the target.
Without a long -term national strategy, projects are evaluated in isolation, as if they exist, except for wider economic and security. The real question is cultural: do we still believe that Canada can form its own fate? Or are we satisfied with the opportunity to miss us, while others act more boldly?
A
The approach is not radical; This is a minimum for a competitive country. Investors do not require perfection; They require confidence. The process of statement, which is a clear, optimized and timely signal that Canada knows what she wants and how to deliver.
Our past proves that we are capable of courage. Canada did not improve Candu reactor, waiting for permission; We built it and shared it in peace. We did not invent insulin to allow him to collect dust; We launched it all over the world. We did not dwell on the creation of Canadarm1; We continued to find the design and now we are preparing Canadarm3 for deploying
The National Space Station, under the leadership of the aviation and space administration, planned for the rotation of the moon.
If Canadians can help develop and pilot modern peacekeeping and contribute to launch
Of course, we can approve the mine,
Port or transport corridor within the time periods that keep up with the world.
The current list of initial projects considered by the office of large projects is a normal start. But we need a national vision and strategy that invests in the north, reveals Western potential, issues Canadian innovations and promotes entrepreneurship – all this with a sense of urgency. This will once again bring us to the world stage. The only question is now whether we have national will.
Gary Mar is the Executive Director of the Canadian West Foundation.
